Liebster Awards: Recommended Reading

Well, I have a rare non-photography post for you people.  And I have no one to blame for it but Anna at Insanity Comes Naturally (which is a fittingly awesome name, might I add).

"The goal of the award is to spotlight up and coming bloggers who currently have less than 200 followers. The rules of the award are:

1. Thank the giver and link back to the blogger who gave it to you.
2. Reveal your top 5 picks and let them know by leaving a comment on their blog.
3. Copy and paste the award on your blog.
4. Have faith that your followers will spread the love to other bloggers.
5. And most of all - have fun!"

I hope that everyone I mention will take the time to make a similar post of their own.  There really isn't a particular order here; the ones that I feel the need to mention specifically I will, and the others that I want to do the same for will unfortunately have to be tacked onto the end of this post.

1. Simple Dreams - This is the blog of a cousin and friend.  I put this one first not only because I look forward to and greatly enjoy all her posts, but also because more traffic over there would be helpful for her.  She is an excellent photographer, a trait that seems to spread through our extended family without regard to genetics.  I rate her second only to my dad in this.

2. A Penny For Your Thoughts - This is also the blog of a cousin and a friend.  It's kind of a random blog - it's full of videos, short posts, rants about life, and amusing stories, scattered far too sparsely with photography and writing (Hint hint!).  You will find some posts about me on there.  Ignore them.  They're lies, all lies.  :-P

And I am quickly realizing that I have way too many blogs to recommend.  Therefore, the rest of these will probably not be on the little sidebar on the right part of the screen(HINT!).

3. When I Grow Up - Yet another photography blog; like I said, it runs in the family.  This one also has some scribblings thrown in.  Dad could have gotten his name in first, if he ever posted.  :-P  However, the posts that are there are excellent proof that I have learned from the best.

4. The Penslayer - As the name suggests, this is a writing blog.  Jenny is an accomplished authoress, having at 20 years of age already had a book published.  As she has other books that are either finished or in the editing stages, I'm sure her book The Shadow Things will not be alone on the shelf for long.

5. Imaginational Wonders - Last but definitely not least, this is another random blog.  This one has some photography, some scribbles, and some jewelry as well.  She doesn't post often, but I couldn't leave her out with a clean conscience.  She is one of my most loyal and helpful followers, always ready to tell me what she thinks of my pictures.  I only say "most" because Sonja has recently found my blog and been very helpful as well.

EDIT:  I didn't realize I had so many honorable mentions at the bottom.  I kinda feel like I'm bending the rules a little.  So instead of having all of them down here, my honorable mentions are permanently on the sidebar on the right side.  The only one I'll mention here as well is Lilly's Scribblings, because she helped me out with this post and I really wanted to fit her up top, but I couldn't.    I'm sorry for the late edit and the removal of the names.  If I had been capable of thinking last night I would've just added them to the sidebar then.